When Jean-Baptiste Michalon posted a notice on the outside of his general store last year, he hardly imagined that it would create a national outcry.
"Sisters on Saturdays and Sundays only," the note read. Michalon's message to customers in the French city of Bordeaux: Women were welcome only on weekends. Men could shop on weekdays.
On Tuesday, a court fined Michalon $560 for making such a distinction, despite his argument that he had posted the sign to protect his wife, who was also working in the store, and other women.
"We put this in place at the request of the sisters who preferred when my wife was behind the counter. It is a shop where we sell clothes," Michalon, who converted to Islam four years ago, told the French news agency Agence France-Presse last year.
Following the outrage created by his note, the Frenchman closed his store and "admitted it was a blunder and tactless," according to a statement from his lawyer.
Local politicians and Muslim leaders stressed that Michalon's behavior did not represent mainstream opinions. The city's mayor, Alain Juppé, a former prime minister of France, called the practice "discriminatory."
Multiple studies have also found a growing problem with racism in France, mainly directed toward Muslims, who are believed to constitute about 7 percent of the French population. Muslims frequently complain that they have a hard time getting jobs, but conservative French commentators and politicians have emphasized that the country should not give up its founding promises of equality in order to please radical Islamists.
Copyright: Washington Post
